All That Glitters is Oil

I like your glitter-free shoelaces

[sassyglitterynightmare]

Glitter... an elusive mysterious force that dominates the market, but where does it come from?

1. Petroleum: The Most Essential Oil

2. The World of Oil & Natural Gas: Industry or (Roman) Empire?

3. The Man Who Made the Glitter

4. A Sparkly Slice of PIE

5. Iridescent, Irresistible, Inescapable

6. Glittering Garbage

7. Glitter is…EVERYWHERE!

8. The Great Glitter Conspiracy

8A. Glitter Bomb! 8B. The Glitter Construct 8C. Glitter in your Gums!? 8D. On an Island in the Sun…

9. Call to action

10. The Sources behind the Sparkle

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Petroleum and glitter's history!

Glitter and political ecology!

The impact of glitter!

conspiracies!!!

[sassyglitterynightmare]

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From the process of petroleum to glitter, both are present throughout our modern world. Petroleum is the basis of consumerist life, with those who are most marginalized paying the high price of our wants. Through every resource drained and left behind, through every petroleum-based good, product, and service, glitter stands at the base of it all. Food, water, housing, and possibly even more: glitter reaches every part of our lives. The petroleum industry needed to fuel this sparkly obsession is an object of social metabolism used to marginalize the people who pay the price for our glittery greed. The capitalistic core of the petroleum industry guards its secrets closely, hides the knowledge of the nature of its business, and the effects of its products. Through the utilization of a conspiracy theory rooted in the deepest corners of the internet, we aim to criticize the pollution the industry is responsible for, and put a spotlight on the biggest glitter distributor, as well as the birthplace of glitter. Glitter may be a sparkling attraction, but don’t let it distract you from the capitalistic roots twisting underneath it ...

[sassyglitterynightmare]

1. Petroleum: The Most Essential Oil

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You've heard of petroleum, right? You probably have before. You might know about it from your science textbooks or from the news or even from everyday people on the street? But do you really know what petroleum is? If not, don't worry. We have a the perfect apolitical overview for you.

Well, to start simply, Petroleum (which is sometimes referred to as just "oil") is a type of fossil fuel and a nonrenewable source of energy. Its name most directly translates to Latin as “rock oil”, with petra meaning “rock” or “stone” and oleum meaning “oil.” But here is where things get a little bit more complicated.

Beyond its title as a fossil fuel, petroleum is a complex, naturally occurring mixture of hydrocarbons that can take on either a gaseous, liquid, or solid form (depending on its exact mixture). Today, it's mostly known and utilized as “crude oil,” which is simply petroleum in its liquid form. In its gaseous form, it's usually referred to as "natural gas," is also a very common energy source behind crude oil. And in its solid form, petroleum is known as bitumen and can often be found in tar sands as a naturally occurring petroleum deposit.

Now, petroleum itself is formed from the remains of plants and animals from millions of years ago, being covered by layers of sediments such as sand or rocks. As years go by, those animal and plant remains face heat and pressure from being covered by the sediment layers. This essentially results in the remains being broken down over a long process and eventually transformed into petroleum the world mines for today.

And while there is evidence of petroleum being used for thousands of years, it wasn’t until the discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1859 did the modern petroleum industry got its start. Ever since then, the industry began to rapidly expand, and petroleum quickly became one of the most popular energy sources.

Today, Petroleum is found and extracted from giant, underground reservoirs all over the world, with the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Russia being some of the biggest crude oil producers at the moment. Most petroleum sources can be found beneath land or the ocean floor, usually where ancient seas were located. These underground petroleum reservoirs can be located by geologists performing something called a seismic survey. This is a technique that uses either artificially generated seismic waves or small amounts of explosives to produce a scan and images of what’s below Earth’s surface).

If a location seems like a promising area to find petroleum, a preliminary well will be drilled and tested. And if the location turns out to be a success, the well gets expanded, and more drilling materials are brought out to take advantage of the discovery. Then, as the petroleum is extracted and removed from the ground, it gets sent to a refinery where it can go through a variety of refining processes that eventually transform it into a variety of useable products such as gasoline, kerosene, butane, and more.

But, petroleum is more than just a mixture of hydrocarbons that helps create other energy sources when mined and refined. The petroleum industry is expansive and is connected to many other products and industries that you might never expect. From toothpaste to contact lenses. From soap to helmets. Almost everything in modern life ties back to petroleum in some shape or form, including the sparkly, decorative tool we all know and love (or hate): glitter.

[sassyglitterynightmare]

2. The World of Oil & Natural Gas: Industry or (Roman) Empire?

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The petroleum industry is huge, and its biggest players are very, very wealthy. Most directly, the industry includes all activities related to petroleum, such as the exploration of new reservoirs, the extraction of petroleum from reservoirs, and the refining, storage, transportation, and sale of petroleum (usually in the form of crude oil and natural gas). But indirectly? Petroleum’s reach goes a lot further than you might think.

Speaking of oil and gas, lots of people know crude oil is the main source ingredient in making gasoline, and natural gas is a common energy source used for things like cooking or heating buildings. Those two energy source powerhouses alone have the power to generate those involved with the oil and natural gas industries a lot of money since oil and natural gas are still some of the most used energy sources (despite the push for renewable, non-fossil fuel energy sources). In fact, as of February 2025, Saudi Aramco is the largest oil-producing company in the world and has a market cap of around 1.7 trillion dollars. In comparison, the two next biggest oil companies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, both have a market cap of around 490 billion and 281 billion (respectively).

But again, petroleum extends far beyond selling products that generate things like power and heat. It exists in so many unexpected products outside of energy generation that you might never be able to look at the industry the same ever again.

Below is a list of just some of the many everyday items that are considered to be petroleum byproducts. These items are developed using a variety of chemical compounds derived from oil and natural gas (also known as petrochemicals) such as ethylene, propylene, methane, propane, and more- making them.

From this list alone, it’s evident that most of life as we know it today would look very different without petroleum. And almost no modern-day industry would come out completely unscathed if petroleum mining and refining were to slow down significantly or completely halt altogether. From current-day electronics and technology to the automotive industry. From cosmetics to medical products. From sporting equipment to outdoor gear. And so, so many household objects. Life just wouldn't be the same without this fossil fuel in our pockets.

And with petroleum being as expansive as it is, the industry becomes more important than you might initially realize. That means that despite the world’s current efforts to push away from using environmentally harmful fossil fuels like petroleum, there are a lot of different industries that would be hard-pressed to see petroleum go away. Especially completely. Because, as seen on that list, there are a lot of products that are made from petroleum that could cause great outrage if they were to suddenly disappear or become much harder to make (if substituting petroleum in the process of making that product is even possible). 

But one of the more surprising things that could cause an uproar if it were to disappear is one that many would never suspect. It’s been a part of a well-kept secret for years and only recently came to the limelight after an investigative journalist from the New York Times went on a deep dive into the topic, thus opening a can of worms for the internet to explore and make conspiracy theories about. In fact, it’s a secret that was so well-kept that it didn’t even make the list provided above, despite its extensive use by consumers and businesses all across the world.

And that secret petroleum byproduct? It’s the very theme of this blog: glitter (and all its shimmery glory).

[sassyglitterynightmare]

3. The Man Who Made the Glitter

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Glitter, at its core, is commonly made up of two things: plastic and aluminum. 

In the past (and in special cases/requests), glitter was made from things like glass in an attempt to give it the reflective properties we commonly associate with glitter. However, innovation in the field of glitter called for the usage of a different material. Nowadays, modern-day glitter often starts with thin sheets of a chosen base material, such as the plastic polymers polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC). These sheets are then coated with a reflective layer (usually aluminum) to give them the shiny that we know glitter by.

It is around this step in the manufacturing process that the future glitter sheets receive their color. This is done by the manufacturers adding pigment to the chosen base material or by directly dying the reflective layer. After this, the sheets are then cut up into tiny pieces using precision cutting machines. While the size of the cut of glitter can vary greatly, these machines are used to cut the sheets into consistently sized and shaped pieces. For this reason, small hexagons are a popular choice for glitter manufacturers due to this shape excelling at reflecting light from different angles (which makes glitter extra shiny).  But there you have it- glitter. Ready to be packaged and shipped out and used just about anywhere (while stubbornly getting just about everywhere).

But what does any of this have to do with petroleum? Well, that’s simple: plastic is a petroleum byproduct. Most of what makes plastic plastic is derived directly from petrochemicals sourced from natural gas and crude oil. In fact, one of the biggest components in plastic is the compound naphtha, which can be generated when heavy crude oil separates into lighter components during the process of distillation (a refining process separates different byproducts of crude oil by their boiling point). Thus, half of glitter’s main ingredients come from petroleum. Just like how almost everything seems to come from petroleum, these days. 

But that then raises another question: who makes the glitter?

Like surprisingly many things in life, there’s evidence of a very early version of glitter being used way farther back than you would expect. Like, there are cave paintings that date back to the Upper Paleolithic period (between 40,000 to 10,000 BCE) that use flecks of a type of shiny rock called mica, which is commonly used in makeup products like eyeshadow to give it a shimmery look. But the glitter we know and use today usually credits a German-American man in Bernardsville, New Jersey, by the name of Henry Frank Ruschmann for its invention. Although sources can’t seem to agree whether or not it started as a complete accident,  Ruschmann found a way to manufacture glitter using machines to crush pieces of metal and plastic into smaller, shinier pieces in 1934. As his new product began gaining popularity, Ruschmann sought to capitalize on this new opportunity by creating a company and factory to mass produce the stuff. He named his new company Meadowbrook Farm Inventions (named after his cattle farm at the time, Meadowbrook Farm), and continued to produce his new invention for years to come. 

Nowadays, the company (still based in Bernardsville) just goes by the name, Meadowbrook Inventions. However, they are still one of the world’s leading glitter manufacturers, and they consider itself to be an “industry leader in particle conversion of specialty substrates for technical applications.” But in a less than 40-minute drive away, you can find the company that is Meadowbrook’s biggest competition. At least in the United States (unlike their products, glitter companies are surprisingly hard to track).

Cranford, New Jersey, is home to the company Glitterx. While the company was founded in 1963, many years after the establishment of Meadowbrook Inventions, it reigns as a fierce competitor in the field and one of the top glitter manufacturers in the world. But despite being a titan in an industry known for a product that is nothing if not loud, eye-catching, and hard to miss, Glitterx is a rather tight-lipped company that one could very easily miss (if it weren't for the glitter surrounding the property). In fact, they’re so tight-lipped that their secretive nature helped spark controversy across the internet a couple of years ago, starting with a particular article published in the New York Times in 2018.  

And after reading the article, it comes as no surprise that people would become more interested in the glitter industry and the reasons for Glitterx’s secretive nature, especially around their bigger buyers. All that glitters is not gold, after all. Especially, if you’re in the business of making glitter itself.

[sassyglitterynightmare]

4. A Sparkly Slice of PIE

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As we’ve alluded to, the innocent-seeming glitter industry is intertwined with bigger issues concerning the environment, society, and power. Political ecology looks at how people’s use of resources affects the planet and communities, and how power shapes those issues. So, let’s break down how glitter fits into all of it.

Let’s begin by establishing the political ecology, or more specifically political-industrial ecology, framework that we’ll be using to analyze the glitter industry: the metabolic process.  Understanding the industrial powers at play is crucial in realizing that the glitter industry is, in essence, an extension of the petroleum industry specifically in New Jersey, where the two largest glitter manufacturers are located.  Apolitically, we’ve explored how petroleum is extracted in our Petroleum: The Most Essential Oil post.  But political ecology, a field that investigates connections between political economy and environmental change, with special attention to issues of equity, power, access, and governance, forces us to place resource extraction, transformation, and consumption within their social and political economic context.  Furthermore, the newly developed field of political-industrial ecology (PIE) focuses on the ways in which resource (e.g. material and energy) flows and stocks shape (and are shaped by) environmental, socio-economic, and political processes and patterns over time and space. As part of a broader rebalancing of nature-society relations, PIE is committed to situating resource extraction, transformation, and consumption within their social and political economic context.

If we apply this way of thinking to the glitter, or rather, petroleum industry, we can come to a few conclusions.  First of all, glitter is mainly made from plastic (like PET or PVC) and aluminum, and its production relies on industries that are heavy on resource extraction, manufacturing, and chemical processes. These industries often have large-scale environmental impacts, and that is certainly the case here.  Glitter production requires raw materials, often from mining or petroleum-based processes. Mining metals like aluminum or extracting fossil fuels for plastics can cause significant environmental damage, such as habitat destruction, water contamination, and carbon emissions.  This isn’t all, however, as the glitter manufacturing process involves industrial-scale factories where workers use chemicals and energy-intensive machines to create the tiny sparkly particles. These industries produce pollution (air, water, and soil) and can harm local communities. Whether they're regulated or not, the focus here is on how glitter's industrial production impacts ecosystems, communities, and whether these costs are being externalized.

Now, what exactly is the metabolic process?  In short, the "metabolic process" in political ecology looks at how we use and impact the environment, and it digs into the politics, economics, and power behind those actions, especially around who gains and who loses in the process.  When we apply the "metabolic process" idea to the glitter industry, it’s about looking at how glitter production, use, and disposal affect the environment and society, and how power dynamics play a role in those impacts.  Like many industries, the glitter business also has uneven impacts. While the big companies that make glitter profit, the environmental damage is often felt by marginalized communities—such as those living near factories where glitter is produced, or communities downstream that suffer from plastic pollution. These communities typically don’t have the same power or resources to fight back against the harm caused by glitter production and waste.  

[sassyglitterynightmare]

5. Iridescent, Irresistible, Inescapable

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Glitter is everywhere.  No, literally.  Not just in your sparkly tank top, or party decorations, or your hair after an arts and crafts accident.  The glitter we know and love, known as decorative glitter, it’s often sprinkled on paper, canvas, and other materials to jazz up artwork, greeting cards, or scrapbooks. You’ll see it on clothes, shoes, and accessories, especially for costumes or special occasions, where it’s glued or sewn in for some extra shine. Glitter’s a big hit in home decor too, where people use it on things like picture frames, vases, and ornaments to add a little glam to their space. Around the holidays, glitter shows up on Christmas ornaments, wreaths, and stockings to give everything a festive sparkle. In the beauty world, it’s used in makeup—think eyeshadows, nail polish, and body glitter—to create a fun, shiny effect for parties or events. It’s also popular for party decorations like banners, balloons, and cake toppers, making everything feel more celebratory.

Glitter even makes its way into food, adding a fun, sparkly touch to dishes and drinks. Edible glitter is used to decorate cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other desserts, giving them a fancy, Instagram-worthy shine. It's also popular for drinks, where it’s added to cocktails, mocktails, and even lattes to make them shimmer. You might see it in chocolate, ice cream, or candies, especially during special occasions like birthdays, weddings, or holidays, to make them feel extra celebratory. The glitter used in food is made from food-safe ingredients, often mica-based or made from starch, so it’s safe to eat. It’s the perfect way to add a little sparkle to your treats and make them stand out!

Oh, did I say food?  I meant more than just human food: scientists often use glitter to monitor animals' digestive systems.  Several different colours of glitter are used to track fecal samples, and in two specific polar bears at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, glitter is added to ground horse meat and then fed to the animals. Each bear is assigned its own color so that zoo keepers know which poop belongs to which bear.  Zoo keepers collect samples from each bear to track what's going on in their bodies. The droppings are collected from the time they are first brought to the zoo until they reach sexual maturity.  The samples gathered are used to track levels of stress hormones in the bears as they adjust to life at the zoo.  

Moreover, glitter is so precisely cut that it’s been utilized by the United States government since it’s inception.  Today, it is use in forensic investigations, military camouflage testing, space simulations, and to prevent counterfeiting.  This is all due to the unique properties of glitter, such as how it reflects light, interacts with surfaces, and sticks to clothing.   Now, the obvious question after all of this information is where does all of that glitter go once it is done being used?  As we’ve learned, glitter is primarily made of microplastics, which are a huge part of global pollution.  Glitter waste is no small issue, and by taking a look at it through the lens of political ecology, it reveals some startling conclusions.  One thing is for sure, though: glitter is just as reluctant to leave your clothes as it is society.

[sassyglitterynightmare]

6. Glittering Garbage

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Glitter as a product also forces us to confront our ideas of waste.  Political ecology can substantially sharpen our analysis of the politics of waste, the uneven distribution of benefits and burdens, the already ongoing conflicts over the valorization of waste as a resource, as well as the political effects of waste as a mobile category, which casts people, places and practices as wasteful, feckless, residual.  Once glitter is used, it usually ends up as waste. Because it’s small and light, glitter can easily escape into the environment, especially when it’s washed off in the rain or discarded in landfills. Most glitter is made of tiny plastic particles, like polyester or PVC, that don’t break down easily. These little pieces end up in waterways when we wash off glitter from cosmetics or crafts, and they can stick around in the environment for years. Glitter can pollute oceans and rivers, where it can be ingested by marine life and potentially end up in the food chain. Plus, the chemicals in glitter, like dyes and coatings, can be harmful to both animals and humans. As part of the larger plastic pollution problem, glitter contributes to the buildup of microplastics.  Additionally, the accumulation of glitter in the environment can negatively impact public health, as microplastics can enter the food chain and pose potential risks to human health. In communities that prioritize environmental sustainability, the widespread use of glitter can create tensions around the need to balance consumer enjoyment with eco-conscious practices. Ultimately, as awareness of glitter’s environmental impact grows, some communities are starting to advocate for more sustainable alternatives, pushing for policies and practices that reduce the use of glitter to protect local ecosystems and well-being.  This is where the "waste" part of the metabolic process happens—glitter enters ecosystems and contributes to pollution, harming wildlife and contributing to the growing issue of microplastics in the oceans.  

As there has become a growing awareness about the environmental impact of traditional glitter, and eco-glitter has become more popular, especially with the rise of sustainability movements. Many people are choosing eco-glitter for personal use or advocating for its use in events and industries like fashion and entertainment. Eco-conscious consumers are also pushing for regulations that limit or ban the use of microplastics in cosmetics and other products, helping drive the demand for more sustainable alternatives.  Eco-glitter is a cleaner, greener option that allows people to enjoy the sparkle and fun of glitter without harming the planet. By switching to eco-glitter, we can reduce our environmental footprint, minimize plastic pollution, and support more sustainable industrial practices. However, a large amount of issues with the glitter industry still remain, as we’ve discussed previously, such as with manufacturing and resource extraction. 

Now, all of this might seem quite lucrative on its own.  But believe it or not, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what the glitter industry is hiding.  In order to understand the depth of glitter’s integration into our society, we must first understand that glitter companies are not just manufacturers of decorative glitter.  The reality is that their super precise and efficient glitter-cutting machines are used for much more than just glitter- in fact, the machines can be used for almost anything.  Considering the fact that Henry Ruschmann’s invention was one of the keys to creating the atom bomb, it’s no surprise why the United States government has kept their uses for glitter-cutting machines under lock and key.  This secrecy is exactly what began a huge conspiracy surrounding the largest glitter manufacturers in the world, Glitterex.

[sassyglitterynightmare]

7: Glitter is...EVERYWHERE!

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It may not come as a surprise to know that glitter gets… everywhere. We use it once and find it throughout our clothes over the next year, feeling like an endless source is looming somewhere, just letting it escape one tiny piece at a time. It also may not come as a surprise that these bits of plastic have made their way around the towns that surround both the Meaddowbrook Inventions and Glitterex companies.

In a video uploaded by investigative journalist YouTuber CHUPPL, they sought out the Glitterex company itself and found glitter covering the ground surface when scoping out the area around the factory (5:45). The screenshot itself is fairly blurry, but I recommend you watch the video for yourself.

CHUPPL Showing Glitter-Ridden Ground Outside of Glitterex Factory

This factory is located in Cranford, NJ, a town with just over 2,100 residents as of 2024. With the high abundance of loose glitter, these people are certainly at higher risk of ingesting glitter.

Take, for example, the fact that the Glitterex factory is right across the street from a stream. Cranford, NJ, receives its water mostly from the surface, according to American Water. They found that surface water in the county is at high risk of being contaminated by inorganic materials, but what does that entail?

Looking deeper into American Water’s 2024 report, you’ll find several alarming figures. Bare with me because it might get a bit technical here:

For Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), they found a range from ND-7ppt (Parts per Trillion), with a maximum level allowed being 14ppt.

For Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (PFOS), the range was ND-6ppt, with a maximum level allowed being 13ppt.

In April of 2024, new limits for PFOA were announced at 4 ppt, however, NJ has until 2027 to start monitoring this goal.

Sustained exposure to PFOAs in drinking water can:

“Experience problems with their blood serum cholesterol levels, liver, kidney, immune system, or, in males, reproductive system.”

“Drinking water containing PFOA in excess of the MCL over many years may also increase the risk of testicular and kidney cancer.”

“For females, drinking water containing PFOA in excess of the MCL over many years may cause developmental delays in a fetus and/or an infant.” — according to American Water

It’s hard to tell what the specific cause of this is in the entire Union County, but it is important to note that PFOAs and other detected chemicals are byproducts of chemical and industrial processes. 

Which… I guess you could say is all a part of a greater conspiracy

[sassyglitterynightmare]

8: The Great Glitter Conspiracy

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If you’ve been an internet sleuth for the past 7 or so years, you have probably come across this conspiracy. What started as a New York Times (NYT) article interviewing a manager at the Glitterex factory. In this article titled “What is Glitter,” the NYT journalist asks them if they can name their biggest buyers, which the manager quickly refuses. When asked why, it lead to the line that started it all:

“Because they don't want you to know that it is glitter.”

Who were “they”? What was “it”? Why wouldn’t they want us to know? All questions culminated in a Reddit post under r/UnsolvedMysteries by a since-deleted user.  

The user theorized these three uses: “the military (Deep pockets, buys lots of vehicles and paint and lights and god knows what)

construction materials (concrete sidewalks often glitter)

the funeral industry (not sure what, but that industry is full of cheap tricks they want to keep secret and I wouldn't put glitter past them)

cheap jewelry (would explain the cheapness)”

And within the 16k comments underneath this post, other users began theorizing. 

Most of the conspiracies revolve around what the user mentioned above, but some other popular conspiracies are:

Boat paint industry

Toothpaste

Rocket fuel

Here’s a closer look at a few of those theories.

[sassyglitterynightmare]

8a: Glitter Bomb!

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The biggest theory around glitter’s use in the military is its role in taggants. Taggants, in this case, are used to mark the area where a bomb has been dropped. By adding these “microtaggants,” the military could effectively track where their bombs landed—and this part isn’t even theory.

An article by NPR describes taggants as “microscopic plastic chips color-coded to identify a particular batch of explosives and designed to survive the explosion…” Whether or not the NPR journalist completely sells you on that, the company they name as a major seller of microtaggants might be more convincing.

A Minnesota-based company called “Microtrace” sells these exact types of taggants, and taggants themselves have been standard protocol in the sale of gunpowder and explosives since the 1980s. One example is a study by the Federation of American Scientists, published in 1980, discussing the feasibility and implications of adding microtaggants to gunpowder.

On the rocket fuel side, though, there isn’t much research or reporting suggesting that glitter is involved—it mostly relies on speculation. One comment under the original post, by user Iohac, sums up the idea with the phrase that rocket fuel seems to have the “right scale and ‘hidden glitter’ quality.”

Whether or not you’d personally count “microscopic plastic chips color-coded to identify” as glitter, it seems pretty clear that the military probably isn’t Glitterex’s biggest buyer— wherever they get it from, they seem to prefer something more…. “tactical.”

[sassyglitterynightmare]

8b: The Glitter Construct

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Construction material is, once more, mostly speculation—but not without reason. The theory is based on the fact that some types of concrete, flooring, and other building materials have a visible sparkle. That sparkle comes from a material called “sparkle grain.” Pacific Palette Concrete Products describes their sparkle grain as “black or white sparkle, concrete finish for interior or exterior concrete surfaces.” On their website, they offer downloadable technical information stating, “Sparkle Grain is an iridescent black sil-car abrasive grit,” which means this grit has to be precision-cut. Where that precision cutting happens is unclear. So, while Glitterex could be the precision-cutting company used by other concrete producers, companies like Pacific Palette Concrete probably create the grit themselves, on-site. 

Picture of "Sparkle Grain" from Pacific Palette's Website

[sassyglitterynightmare]

8c: Glitter in your Gums!?

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You probably remember either you, your sibling, or some younger family member using those kiddie toothpastes with edible glitter in them. As a kid, you probably didn’t think twice about it—just stuck it on your toothbrush and moved on. But once the topic came up, a lot of people online started pointing toward the toothpaste industry as the mysterious “biggest buyer.” One blog post from Dental Buzz is brought up often in those discussions. In the post, they ran two solubility tests on Crest toothpaste with glitter—one with acetone, one with alcohol. The glitter specks didn’t dissolve in either. The post’s creator claims to be a Dental Hygienist and points out several parts of the mouth where glitter could get stuck—especially if it doesn’t dissolve properly. Most toothpaste brands say that their glitter is mica, but Crest admitted to using polyethylene as a decorative ingredient- at least a couple years ago. The blog highlighted this and linked to Crest’s site—where the claim was listed—before it was removed. Luckily, the blogger saved a copy! This is the screenshot they provided:

So, even though Glitterex’s biggest customer is still unknown, many internet users lean toward toothpaste as the most plausible suspect.

[sassyglitterynightmare]

8d: On an Island in the Sun...

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 This is—what I found to be—the most plausible explanation behind The Great Glitter Conspiracy: Boat paint!

Starting with what we already know: seasoned industrial writer Robert Seely claimed that glitter is found in fiberglass motorboat hulls and motorboat finishes. The CHUPPL video features Seely and includes a segment where he meets with the son of the inventor, Henry Ruschmann (same name as his father). From that video alone, we don’t get a ton of hard evidence—but if you dig deeper, there might be more to find.

Even though many boat paint manufacturers deny using glitter in their paint and finishes- like Black Country Paints ltd., there are still plenty of claims saying otherwise. One company that has had claims of being involved with glitter is a company called Polycryl. In a podcast on the website wbur one of the hosts- Ben, speaks with someone who allegedly worked for boat manufacturers. He claimed that he used to buy glitter by the gallons from the distributors of Glitterex and Meadowbrook- and named one of these distributors as Polycryl. Polycryl’s website confirms that they did distribute glitter to the boating industry, but they say they stopped after transitioning to a new facility in 2002. This confirms that glitter was at least being used in the industry in the last 30 years (as of 2025), but whether it’s still being used today—and where—that seems to be a closely guarded secret.

The conspiracy continues!

[sassyglitterynightmare]

10. The Sources behind the Sparkle

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About – PolyCryl Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://polycrylcorp.com/about/

All About EcoGlitter | Bramble Berry. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.brambleberry.com/colorants/all-about-ecoglitter.html

Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes First-Ever National Drinking Water Standard to Protect 100M People from PFAS Pollution | US EPA. (2024, April 10). https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-finalizes-first-ever-national-drinking-water-standard

Bulk Glitter Supplier, Manufacturer, Glitter Company. (n.d.). Meadowbrook Glitter. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://meadowbrookglitter.com/

Burclaff, N. (n.d.). Research Guides: Oil and Gas Industry: A Research Guide: History of the Industry [Research guide]. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://guides.loc.gov/oil-and-gas-industry/history

Caruk, H. (2016, May 6). Sparkly polar bear poo shines a light on research at Winnipeg zoo. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/polarbear-poo-glitter-research-1.3570480

Chisholm, K. (2015, January 27). 144 Products Made From Petroleum and some that may may shock you. Innovative Advisory Group. https://innovativewealth.com/inflation-monitor/what-products-made-from-petroleum-outside-of-gasoline/

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